Date of Award
2003
Degree Type
Dissertation
First Advisor
Nancy Cook
Abstract
Historians pose questions regarding film's influence on the public's perception of historical eras and events. One concern is adapting information from written sources into visual discourse. However, they do not discuss how the screenplay holds an intermediary position between these two modes of representation. The Offering: Writing a Historical Screenplay, therefore, explores how a scriptwriter determines his or her use of sources to suit the visual medium of film. Characterization and plot elements which are extracted from sources are transformed according to the dramatic narrative screenplay's unique set of conventions and codes which have been formulated as a result of popularity with audiences. The Offering, which is a screenplay based on a high-profile 1833 murder trial in Newport, Rhode Island, and the accompanying analysis of nonfictional and fictional sources written in 1833-34 and in the twentieth century examine choices that the screenwriter makes while attempting to render incomplete or biased sources into a unified, coherent, and entertaining story. Historical fidelity is more an issue of creating characters who embody their cultural milieu than of factual accuracy. Film's representation of historical conflicts is reminiscent of the classic historical novel. In The Offering characters experience conflicts emanating from industry and the Protestant evangelical movement during the Second Great Awakening in antebellum New England.
Recommended Citation
Lyon, Alicia B., "The Offering: Writing a historical screenplay" (2003). Open Access Dissertations. Paper 1928.
https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/oa_diss/1928
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